Compliant body-pressing exerciser

ABSTRACT

A compliant body-pressing exerciser, which may constitute an inflatable, compliant structure, is adapted to be mounted to a seat or rigid frame, and includes a bowl-shaped lower member and a dome-shaped upper member formed respectively with upper and lower surrounding edge portions that engage each other and adapted to contact the ground and compliantly press against a user&#39;s body. A height of the upper member is larger than that of the lower member. Exercising assemblies that comprise elastic or bungee cords may be coupled to the frame.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/037,937, filed on Jan. 3, 2002. The contents of the prior application are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] This invention relates to an exercise apparatus, more particularly to a compliant body-pressing exerciser which is rollable and which is detachably coupled to a seat frame for performing different exercising modes.

[0004] 2. Description of Related Art

[0005] A conventional resilient ball for exercise is made of a deformable material to permit a user to lie on his back to exercise his upper body part, or to press his abdominal part against the ball while lifting his legs from the ground and placing his hands on the ground for exercising his arms. Another conventional balance exerciser has a spherical resilient member which is secured on a seat. The user can lie or stand on the spherical resilient member to perform abdominal part and balance exercises, respectively. It is desirable to provide a compliant body-pressing exerciser which is rollable on the ground and which can be retained from rolling to perform a wide variety of exercising modes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The object of the present invention is to provide a compliant body-pressing exerciser suitable for use when performing a wide variety of exercising modes.

[0007] According to this invention, the compliant body-pressing exerciser includes a bowl-shaped lower member and a dome-shaped upper member. The bowl-shaped lower member is adapted to contact the ground and includes an upper surrounding edge portion, and a lower rounded wall which extends downwardly and convergently from the upper surrounding edge portion and which terminates at a lowermost spot adapted to contact the ground when the exerciser is not in use. The dome-shaped upper member is adapted to compliantly press against a user's body, and includes a lower surrounding edge portion which engages the upper surrounding-edge portion and which is associated with the upper surrounding edge portion to form a reference plane that is parallel to the ground, and an upper rounded wall which extends upwardly and convergently from the lower surrounding edge portion and which terminates at an apical spot. The apical spot cooperates with the lowermost spot to define a central line that is normal to and that intersects the reference plane at a central point. The bowl-shaped lower member and the dome-shaped upper member are configured such that a first height which is calculated from the apical spot to the central point is larger than a second height which is calculated from the lowermost spot to the central point, and such that a shortest one of first radial distances measured from the central point to the lower surrounding edge portion is not less than the first height.

[0008] According to another aspect of the invention, an exerciser comprises a rigid frame, an inflatable compliant structure, affixing structure projecting from the inflatable structure and bungee cord exercising assemblies connected to the frame. The frame has a downwardly-facing surface for engaging a horizontally-extending support surface. The inflatable structure is fixedly mountable on the frame. When inflated, the inflatable structure has an upper portion with exterior and interior convexo-concave wall surfaces and a lower portion with exterior and interior wall surfaces. The upper portion of the inflatable structure is peripherally joined with the lower portion at a peripheral junction such that interior wall surfaces of the upper and lower portions are disposed generally so as to face one another. An exterior convex surface of the upper portion provides a user-engageable exercise surface when the inflatable structure is mounted on the frame. The vertical spacing between an uppermost extent of the upper portion and a horizontal reference plane passing through the peripheral junction is greater than the vertical spacing between the reference plane and the downwardly-facing surface of said frame. The affixing structure is used for fixing the inflatable structure to the frame. The bungee cord exercising assemblies are constructed and arranged to enable a user to extend one or more of the assemblies while in engagement with the convex surface of said upper portion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0010]FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a compliant body-pressing exerciser assembly according to this invention;

[0011]FIG. 2 is a side view of the preferred embodiment;

[0012]FIG. 3 is a side view of the preferred embodiment to illustrate a compliant body-pressing exerciser when fastened on a seat frame;

[0013]FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the preferred embodiment;

[0014]FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are schematic views illustrating three exercising modes that can be performed using the compliant body-pressing exerciser, respectively;

[0015]FIGS. 8, 9 and 10 are schematic views illustrating three exercising modes that can be performed using the compliant body-pressing exerciser assembly, respectively;

[0016]FIG. 11 is a bottom view of another preferred embodiment of the compliant body-pressing exerciser assembly according to this invention; and

[0017] FIGS. 12 to 16 are schematic views respectively illustrating five exercising modes that can be performed using the embodiment shown in FIG. 11.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0018] Referring to FIG. 1, the first preferred embodiment of the compliant body-pressing exerciser assembly according to the present invention is shown to comprise a compliant body-pressing exerciser 10, a seat or rigid frame 20, and a fastening cord 30.

[0019] With reference to FIG. 4, the exerciser 10 is made integrally of a deformable material, such as plastic, which may be inflated or filled with water. The exerciser 10, which may also be referred to as an “inflatable, compliant structure,” includes a bowl-shaped lower member 12 and a dome-shaped upper member 11. The bowl-shaped lower member 12 is adapted to contact the ground and includes an upper surrounding edge portion 122, and a lower rounded wall 123 which extends downwardly and convergently from the upper surrounding edge portion 122 and which terminates at a lowermost spot 124 that is adapted to contact the ground when the exerciser 10 is not in use. The dome-shaped upper member 11 is adapted to compliantly press against a user's body, and includes a lower surrounding edge portion 13 which is disposed to engage the upper surrounding edge portion 122 and which is associated with the upper surrounding edge portion 122 to form a reference plane that is adapted to be parallel to the ground, and an upper rounded wall 112 which extends upwardly and convergently from the lower surrounding edge portion 13 and which terminates at an apical spot 114. The apical spot 114 cooperates with the lowermost spot 124 to define a central line (L) that is normal to and that intersects the reference plane at a central point (C). The bowl-shaped lower member 12 and the dome-shaped upper member 11 are configured such that a first height (H) which is calculated from the apical spot 114 to the central point (c) is larger than a second height (h) which is calculated from the lowermost spot 124 to the central point (C). In addition, a shortest one of first radial distances measured from the central point (C) to the lower surrounding edge portion 13 is not less than the first height (H). In this embodiment, the second height (h) is not larger than ⅔ of a shortest one of second radial distances measured from the central point (C) to the upper surrounding edge portion 122. Thus, the gravity center of the exerciser 10 is lowered for steady mounting on the seat frame 20.

[0020] Moreover, a plurality of protrusions 111 are disposed on and extend outwardly from the exterior convex surface of the upper rounded wall 112 of the dome-shaped upper member 11 for massaging the user's body. As shown, the protrusions are in parallel ring formations with each ring formation being made up of a plurality of knob-like protrusions disposed in annularly spaced relation. A plurality of concentric friction ribs 121 are formed on the lower rounded wall 123 of the bowl-shaped lower member 12 and around the lowermost spot 124 to increase friction thereof with the ground. An affixing structure in the form of a plurality of lugs 14 projects integrally and extends radially and outwardly from the juncture of the upper and lower surrounding edge portions 122, 13. Individual lugs 14 are disposed in an angularly spaced relation with respect to one another. Each lug 14 has a pre-formed opening or eyelet 141 formed therein.

[0021] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4, the seat frame 20 has a bottom wall 24, a surrounding wall 25 which extends upwardly from a periphery of the bottom wall 24 to surround a middle line and to terminate at a surrounding upper peripheral edge portion 26, and an inner concave portion 27 which is disposed to extend from the surrounding upper peripheral edge portion 26 downwardly and toward the middle line so as to form an inner concave surface 271 which confines an accommodation space 21. In this embodiment, the inner concave surface 271 has a surrounding lower peripheral edge portion 272 which surrounds the middle line and which is disposed opposite to the surrounding upper peripheral edge portion 26 to confine an opening 28. As such, the bowl-shaped lower member 12 can be retained in the accommodation space 21 with the juncture of the upper and lower surrounding edge portions 122, 13 disposed on the upper peripheral edge portion 26, and with the friction ribs 121 of the lower rounded wall 123 passing through the opening 28.

[0022] Preferably, the inner concave surface 271 has a first curvature which is larger than a second curvature of the lower rounded wall 123 so that when the dome-shaped upper member 11 is pressed, the lower rounded wall 123 is deformed to retract into the accommodation space 21 to contact tightly the inner concave surface 271.

[0023] Moreover, the seat frame 20 further includes a plurality of anchoring members 22 disposed on the surrounding wall 25. Thus, the fastening cord 30 can pass through the eyelets 141 in the lugs 14 and be fastened to the anchoring members 22 so as to fasten the exerciser 10 on the seat frame 20. Furthermore, a plurality of support leg members 23 are disposed on and extend downwardly from the surrounding wall 25 to support the seat frame 20 on the ground. Each support leg member 23 is provided with friction ribs 231 on a bottom wall thereof.

[0024] Referring to FIGS. 5 to 7, when only the exerciser 10 is in use, the user can lie on his back on the dome-shaped upper member 11 of the exerciser 10 and bend his upper body part to exercise his abdominal part. The user can also lean against the dome-shaped upper member 11 with his waist part to exercise the side portion of his upper body part, or contact the dome-shaped upper member 11 using his abdominal part, lift his legs from the ground and place his hands on the ground to exercise his arms.

[0025] Referring to FIGS. 8 to 10, when the exerciser 10 is retained on the seat frame 20 by means of the fastening cord 30 which engages the eyelets 141 and the anchoring members 22, the user, similar to that shown in FIG. 5, can lie on his back on the dome-shaped upper member 11 to exercise his upper body part or to perform stretching exercise. Also, the user can stand on one leg on the dome-shaped upper member 11 for balance exercise.

[0026] As illustrated, when the exerciser 10 is used without the seat frame 20, it is deformable and rollable on the ground so that exercise modes similar to those of a conventional resilient ball can be performed. When the exerciser 10 is used with and is fastened to the seat frame 20, balance exercise similar to that of a conventional balance exerciser can be performed.

[0027] Furthermore, referring to FIG. 11, the compliant body-pressing exerciser assembly according to the present invention may additionally comprise a plurality of first and second pulleys 70, 80 which are mounted on the bottom wall of the seat frame 50 and which are angularly displaced from one another along the periphery 51 of the bottom wall in an alternating arrangement. A first elastic band or bungee cord 91 is trained on the first pulleys 70 and has two ends which are disposed radially and outwardly of the periphery 51 via through holes 511, 512 formed in the surrounding wall of the seat frame 50 and which are provided with two handgrips 92, 93. A second elastic band 101 is trained on the second pulleys 80 and has two ends which are disposed radially and outwardly of the periphery 51 via through holes 513, 514 formed in the surrounding wall of the seat frame 50 and which are provided with two handgrips 102, 103. Thus, as shown in FIGS. 11 to 16, when the exerciser 40 is retained on the seat frame 50 by means of the fastening cord 60, the user can lie or sit on the exerciser 40 to grasp the handgrips 92, 93, 102, 103 or to extend one foot in the handgrip 93 to perform different arm and leg stretching exercises. The elastic bands 91, 101, and any associated structures, may constitute bungee cord exercising assemblies.

[0028] While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretations and equivalent arrangements. 

I claim:
 1. An exerciser comprising: a rigid frame having a downwardly-facing surface for engaging a horizontally-extending support surface; an inflatable compliant structure being fixedly mountable on said frame, said inflatable structure when inflated having an upper portion with exterior and interior convexo-concave wall surfaces and a lower portion with exterior and interior wall surfaces, said upper portion being peripherally joined at a peripheral junction with said lower portion so that interior wall surfaces of each are disposed generally facing one another, an exterior convex surface of the upper portion providing a user-engageable exercise surface when said inflatable structure is mounted on said frame, the vertical spacing between an uppermost extent of said upper portion and a horizontal reference plane passing through said peripheral junction being greater than the vertical spacing between said reference plane and the downwardly-facing surface of the frame; affixing structure projecting from said inflatable structure and being used for fixing said inflatable structure to said frame; and bungee cord exercising assemblies connected to said frame and constructed to enable a user to extend one or more of said assemblies while in engagement with said convex surface of the upper portion.
 2. The exerciser of claim 1, wherein said interior and exterior wall surfaces of said lower portion are convexo-concave.
 3. The exerciser of claim 2, wherein said peripheral junction includes interengaging upper and lower surrounding edge portions on said upper and lower portions, respectively.
 4. The exerciser of claim 3, wherein said upper portion is dome-shaped and includes an apical spot constituting said uppermost extent.
 5. The exerciser of claim 4, wherein said lower portion is bowl-shaped and includes a lowermost spot that establishes a line with said apical spot that intersects said reference plane at a central point.
 6. The exerciser of claim 5, wherein the vertical spacing along said line between the apical spot and the central point is larger than the vertical spacing between the lowermost spot and the central point.
 7. The exerciser of claim 6, wherein a radial distance between the central point and the peripheral junction is not larger than ⅔ of the vertical spacing between the lowermost spot and the central point.
 8. The exerciser of claim 1, wherein said affixing structure comprises annularly spaced lugs projecting integrally from said inflatable structure adjacent said peripheral junction.
 9. The exerciser of claim 8, further comprising annularly spaced anchoring members on the frame that are used with the lugs for fixing said inflatable structure to said frame.
 10. The exerciser of claim 9, wherein said lugs have pre-formed openings therein.
 11. The exerciser of claim 10, further comprising a fastening cord extending through said pre-formed openings and fixedly engaged with said anchoring members in such a way as to allow the inflatable structure to be selectively used separate from said frame as an exerciser.
 12. The exerciser of claim 8, wherein a plurality of surface protrusions are integrally formed on the exterior convex surface of said inflatable structure.
 13. The exerciser of claim 12, wherein said protrusions are configured as parallel ring formations.
 14. The exerciser of claim 13, wherein each of said protrusions is of knob-like configuration and each of said ring formations includes a series of annularly spaced knob-like protrusions.
 15. The exerciser of claim 1, wherein a plurality of surface protrusions are integrally formed on the exterior convex surface of said inflatable structure.
 16. The exerciser of claim 15, wherein said protrusions are configured as parallel ring formations.
 17. The exerciser of claim 16, wherein each of said protrusions is of knob-like configuration and each of said ring formations includes a series of annularly spaced knob-like protrusions.
 18. The exerciser of claim 1, wherein said peripheral junction includes interengaging upper and lower surrounding edge portions on said upper and lower portions, respectively.
 19. The exerciser of claim 1, wherein said upper portion is dome-shaped and includes an apical spot constituting said uppermost extent.
 20. The exerciser of claim 1, wherein said lower portion is bowl-shaped and includes a lowermost spot that establishes a line with said apical spot that intersects said reference plane at a central point. 